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Adam Huras
Telegraph-Journal

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The Tobique River will be choked with canoes and music lovers this Saturday for a distinctive New Brunswick summer event and one of its most popular.

It's the annual Fiddles on the Tobique that brings in fiddlers, canoes and their paddlers from far and wide.

It's a spectator event as well. Thousands of people come to see the colourful parade of canoes transporting scores of fiddle players down the river as they perform beloved jigs and reels from lumber camps and country dance halls.

Nictau, population 12, will host the annual celebration. It's the home of well-known canoe maker Bill Miller, who plays a key role in organizing the popular event.

Miller said the Fiddles on the Tobique began 16 years ago after he simply asked for some songs in exchange for a river ride.

"Ivan Hicks was in Perth-Andover for a concert and I had bought a CD and wanted him to autograph it," Miller said. "So I went up after and he gladly autographed it and then he asked me what I did."

Miller owns Miller Canoes on Nictau's Route 385.

"He admitted he had never been in a canoe before and I said I would love to take him on his first canoe ride, providing he brought his fiddle along," Miller said. "His eyes just twinkled and agreed it was a neat idea."

It was planned for the very next day.

"And I guess the rest is just history," he said.

Hicks and his wife Vivian are known throughout North America for their contribution to the old-time fiddling scene. Ivan Hicks is a composer, recording artist, and mentor for the fiddle music that is part of Atlantic Canada's heritage.

Both Ivan and Vivian have been inducted into the New Brunswick Country Music Hall of Fame. Ivan has also been named to the North American Fiddlers Hall of Fame.

They now live in Riverview.

In 1996, Ivan Hicks was celebrating his 50th anniversary of playing the fiddle and invited 50 fiddling friends to Tobique with him.

"And then from there it just went crazy, they have been coming back ever since," Miller said. "We had no idea that it would become as popular as it is, but it did, and it certainly still is."

This year Miller expects another huge turnout. He is encouraging New Brunswickers to line the shores of the river or on one of the Tobique River's several islands to listen along. Those in canoes without instruments can also paddle and enjoy the music.

"There will be new people coming that have never come before and they will go away back home with a satisfied soul that they went to a place that has a pristine river and friendly people," Miller said. "They will have an excellent time coming down a beautiful river listening to old time fiddle music."

The festivities begin on Friday with a fiddle concert at Tobique Valley High School. Comedian and Maritimer Jimmy Flynn will perform in Riley Brook on Friday and Saturday night as well.

On Saturday morning, musicians will participate in informal jam sessions at numerous locations in Riley Brook and Nictau.

The Fiddles on the Tobique flotilla will start at 1 p.m. from Little Forks Pool for the fiddlers and musicians. All other canoeists should launch their canoes either above Little Forks or below.

The river run will last three hours.

Miller expects company across from across Canada and around the world as well.

He's not surprised that musicians trek thousands of kilometres to take part.

"When someone lives in a place like Toronto fighting freeway traffic day after day and they come to a place where there is no parking lots, there are no parking meters, they are no sirens going 24 hours a day and nothing around but a beautiful woods and a river it's refreshing," he said.